16/08/14

My partner and I arrived at The Powerstation, looked at each other, looked at the crowd, and the first thing I said was ‘Everyone’s wearing black, did we not get the memo?’. 7.45pm and the crowd was starting to grow. A guy with holes in his ears big enough to fit a ‘D’ sized battery through calls out to me and says we may as well line up now because otherwise we will never get in.

After a bit of shuffling, we eventually got to the ticket line, and after a pat-down (I’m assuming this was for weapons and alcohol, not just for fun) we made our way through the doors to the bar. Opting to stand by the sound desk, the Powerstation looked amazing with huge 1 storey high Devilskin banners hanging from roof to floor either side with menacing skulls and a Tama kit setup in the dim stage lights.

I looked over to see Braiden Paige behind the mixing desk, and I thought to myself, this is going to be one good night.

First up Von Voin Strum hit the stage. They are new to me, but after a bit of quick googling on my phone, found they have already produced a few music videos and and released an EP. Their description ‘blues infused rock’ is about as true as it gets. Extremely tight. They had a nice blend of Rock and some slow jams all rolled into one. Very comparable to Kings Of Leon.

The band that I have seen many times and am never disappointed hit the stage second. Fire At Will. These guys have already released a few songs that have done extremely well on The Rock, and played alongside I Am Giant, Villiany and Ekko Park. Once again, they delivered a flawless set, massive stage energy, and lifted the whole vibe of the room. They even had the entire room chanting ‘Fire At Will’ before they hit the first note.

Devilskin. Theres a name synonymous with cutting edge hard rock metal. I have known Jennie Skulander now for probably the best part of 10 years since her previous band Slipping Tongue battled head to head with The Twitch and my previous band Epitome at Galatos at the Battle Of The Bands NZ final all those years ago. Since then she has been belting out devious metal melodies and showing off her amazing set of lungs on stage with The Axeman (Paul Martin) The Axeman’s son (Nick Martin) and Nail ex Chuganaut.

What I was expecting and was delivered were two totally different things. 17 shows down, and yet still Devilskin managed to deliver this high energy show with smoke machines shooting fog high into the air, shredding guitar solo’s, double kicks delivered well into the 200bpm timeframes, power polished and well pitched vocals laid over the top, and driving yet cutting bass lines so perfectly timed with the drums.

They played for well over an hour, and to be honest, i was mightly impressed with the professionalism and the delivery of the show. They have really grown from being a bunch of good musicians, to being a bunch of great musicians who can hold their own on the world stage.

By all means, if you haven’t done it yet – go and find yourself a ticket to see Devilskin play live. You won’t be sorry .. and if you make it to the front row, you may even get shot in the face with a fog bazooka from Jennie Skulander.